Benvarden too strong for Dunloy

This was the first appearance of both these teams in the final of this Charity Cup competition. Prior to the match commencing Mrs M Moody, organiser of the tournament presented a cheque for 2,300 to Dorothy Black and Patricia Taylor who were representing the local Hospice Group. Dorothy thanked Mrs Moody and all the teams who had participated in the competition for this very generous donation. She added that the money is greatly needed and will be used to care for those locally who require help with their illness.

On mat one Mark Shaw's (Dunloy Pres) four took on Alastair McIntyre's (Benvarden) rink. In the first end Dunloy were lying three shots and looking for an early advantage, but McIntyre with his last bowl played a driving shot to burn the head. Benvarden then got to grips with the fast swinging mat early on to take a commanding lead and by end six were in front by nine shots. Dunloy just couldn't get going and with C McIntyre (lead) and A Carson (second) building good heads Dunloy had no answer and finally went down 17-2.

Things were looking much better over on mat two with W Caldwell (Dunloy Pres) taking on C Taggart (Benvarden). Although Caldwell lost the first two ends he struck back to win the next three ends and lead by seven shots to three. Benvarden came back but Dunloy held on to win by eleven shots to seven.

Benvarden again dealt with the tricky mat better in this game, but it was the skill of Caldwell (skip) ably assisted by l). Fenton at two who time after time gained the upper hand for Dunloy Presbyterian. This left the score at half time 24-13 to Benvarden.

In the second half on mat one B Kane's (Benvarden) rink played T Paul's (Dunloy) rink. Again Dunloy could not overcome the fast mat and after end six trailed by six shots. Kane (skip) and Smyth (third) attacked every end and with no back bowls Paul was always trying to minimise the damage, but try as he may Dunloy went down 14 shots to five.

On mat two it was the same story with J Campbell's Dunloy rink, struggling to keep in contention with R Kane's rink. The Benvarden four played the more steady and telling bowls, especially with D McKeeman (lead) peppering the Jack every end, it was a lost cause for Dunloy and Benvarden went on to win 18 shots to seven.

This left Benvarden easy winners with the final score standing at Benvarden 56 shots - Dunloy Presbyterian 25 shots.

Jim Mcllroy on presenting the lovely trophy to Alastair McIntyre, captain of Benvarden, thanked Maureen Moody for organising the competition adding that over the last ten years over 20,000 has been raised by this competition. He also thanked the members of 1st Coleraine for hosting the final and for serving the beautiful supper.